Events

Gunnersbury Park visit

Wednesday 15 November 2017, 10.00 am – 11.00 am

Gunnersbury Park, Popes Lane, London W3 8LQ

Gunnersbury Park has its origins in the 17th century when a Palladian mansion was built by John Webb, Inigo Jones’s protégé. Two mansions were built in its place at the beginning of the 19th century, and the grounds were later remodelled by the financier Nathan Rothschild. In 1925 the estate became a public park, opened by Neville Chamberlain. Its historic buildings are now undergoing restoration, and the Heritage of London Trust has given a grant towards work on the south-eastern arch.

Our visit will begin at 10am with tea and coffee followed by a tour of the Large Mansion, the Grade II* Sidney Smirke Orangery and Gothic ruins. We will be shown around by the architect and the project manager.

Crossness pumping station tour

Crossness Pumping Station is a Grade I listed sewage pumping station in the borough of Bexley, built between 1859 and 1865. Designed by the engineer Sir Joseph Bazalgette and Charles Driver, it was dazzlingly ornate, a ‘Victorian cathedral of ironwork’.

Crossness was decommissioned in the 1950s and left to decay and vandalism. Since 1987, it has been gradually restored. We will have a tour of the spectacular interior including the restored engines and exhibition with the Chairman of the Crossness Engines Trust, Prof Peter Catterall.

If you would like to be added to the waiting list, please let us know here.

Apothecaries’ Hall Visit

Friday 10 November 2017, 10.00 – 11.30 am

Blackfriars Lane, EC4V 6EJ

Apothecaries’ Hall is the earliest surviving livery company hall in London, dating from 1672, just after the Great Fire. For 400 years the Apothecaries made and sold medicinal and pharmaceutical products from the hall, cultivating many of their ingredients at Chelsea Physic Garden up the river.

While the courtyard is open to the public, the interior is only open by special arrangement. Led by the Clerk, Nick Royle, we will visit the 17th century hall and see the Apothecaries’ fine collection of paintings as well as their arrays of fascinating objects associated with pharmaceutical production.

pitzhanger Manor visit

Tuesday 21 November 2017, 9.00 – 10.30 am

Pitzhanger Manor, Walpole Park, Mattock Lane, W5 5EQ

Sir John Soane used his country house in Ealing – a 17th century house he rebuilt between 1800 and 1810 – as a weekend retreat and for entertainment. Here he experimented with new architectural ideas, such as the use of caryatids, canopy domes and elaborate paint schemes. The house is now undergoing major restoration. HOLT has given a grant towards the restoration of the coloured glass in the conservatory.

Join us for a tour of the house in the final stages of work, before it reopens to the public in Spring 2018.

This visit is now fully booked. If you would like to be added to the waiting list, please contact claire.burrell@heritageoflondon.org

BUILDING On philanthropy: the modern Victorians

ANNUAL LONDON CONSERVATION CONFERENCE

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London in the 1800s struggled with poverty, dire sanitation, an acutely expanding population and housing shortages. Much of London was overcrowded slums and progress seemed impossible for many. A handful of notable figures led campaigns for change in different ways. By World War I, the city had been transformed by new working standards, educational reforms and exemplary building schemes.

This conference looks at the role of philanthropy in driving change, inspiration and lessons from the past, and realistic expectations for the future.

The Heritage of London Trust’s Conservation Conference has been held every year since 1983 and is a unique occasion when all London local authorities are represented and the latest planning ideas and developments discussed.

The theme for the morning session this year is Victorian philanthropy and its impact; in the afternoon, the theme is evolving models to meet today’s challenges.

Speakers include

KEYNOTE SPEAKER: William Shawcross CVO, Chairman, Charity Commission

CHAIRS to include: David Goldberg, Founder & CEO, Founders Pledge

The 12thEarl of Shaftesbury, Nicholas Ashley-Cooper

The 7th Earl of Shaftesbury and his legacy

Prof Jerry White, Professor of History, Birkbeck, University of London

Slums and homelessness in the 19th century – the London housing problem

Martin Stilwell MA, historian

Housing the workers – the birth of London’s council housing

Dr Peter Mitchell, Research Fellow, Sussex University

The Victorian philanthropists

Damian Brady, Chief Operating Officer, Toynbee Hall

Arnold Toynbee and Toynbee Hall

Prof Peter Catterall, Professor of History & Policy, University of Westminster

BELGRAVIA IN BLOOM: GARDENS OF THE GROSVENOR ESTATE

Wednesday 24 May 2017, 12.00 – 1.30 pm

133 Ebury Street, SW1W 9QU

Join us for a rare glimpse into the private gardens and squares of the Grosvenor Estate in Belgravia. These are magnificent examples of a late Georgian picturesque townscape and have a fascinating 20th century history too.

We will meet at the headquarters of the Grosvenor landscape team in Ebury Street at 12 pm for a short talk on the development of Belgravia. We’ll then have a walking tour around Eaton Square, Chester Square and Belgrave Square.

The visit has been arranged to coincide with ‘Belgravia in Bloom’, Grosvenor’s contribution to the Chelsea Flower Show Fringe. The tour will be led by Tim Jones, Associate Director of the London Estate.

We will finish with a light lunch in the gardens of Belgrave Square.

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Emery Walker’s House tour

Tuesday 4 July 2017, 10.00 – 11.30 am

7 Hammersmith Terrace, W6 9TS

Emery Walker was one of the most important early typographers, collaborator of William Morris and influential member of the Arts & Crafts movement. His house in Hammersmith, lined with Morris wallpaper and textiles, 17th and 18th century furniture and ceramics and Arts & Crafts treasures, has been unaltered since the 1930s. It was saved as a private house museum by Sir John Betjeman, who believed it ‘a kingdom that can never be created again’.

HOLT gave a grant towards the ceramics in the conservatory in 2014; the house has just reopened after major restoration work.

Join us for a tour by Helen Elletson, Manager & Curator of the house, and Simon Daykin who has led the restoration project.

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THe Charterhouse tour

Friday 14 July 2017, 9.30- 10.45 am

Charterhouse Square, EC1M 6AN

Monastery, Tudor mansion, boys’ school and almshouse, The Charterhouse now has its own museum which tells the history of this fascinating corner of London from the 14th century onwards. The Charterhouse is still in use as an almshouse, but opened to the public for the first time in its history in January.

HOLT has recently supported the restoration of the Sir Henry Havelock memorial in the 17th century cloister. Our tour will include a visit to the Museum, with collections from both the Charterhouse and the Museum of London, and a tour of the main rooms – the Great Chamber on the first floor, where Queen Elizabeth I once held court, the Great Hall, cloisters and chapel. There is a cafe on site where the tour will end at 10.45.